After her mother dies in an accident, Bree is willing to do anything to try and get away from those memories. So when an opportunity for smart and bright high school students to attend a college, especially when her best friend Alice can go to, Bree jumps at the chance. Bree hopes that this will be the fresh start in her life and a way to figure out what she is feeling. That is until she witnesses a magical demon attack on her first night. Bree learns of a secret society called the Legendborn, who hunt down these creatures, and have for centuries as they are all descendant of King Arthur and his men. After witnessing the attack it it unlocks a memory that Bree had when her mother was in the hospital after her accident. This leads Bree to need to know more about these Legendborn, what she finds out will change her life forever.
This is Deonn’s debut novel and Wow did she start off with a winner. This book was well written, had interesting characters and story, the world building around the society was really well done. Simply put this was an Awesome Book, that I did not want to put down. Yes, there are a few slower parts in the book, but these are needed to help set up the world and Bree as a character. Yes, sometimes there is a little bit of a data dump for information about the world and society, but these are well placed in the book and make sense when they occur as we learn about everything at the same pace as Bree and well it is a big learning curve.
I think what I like about Bree the most was that she was so normal. She
is attempting to deal with her grief of losing her mother and not sure
how to deal with those feelings. She is living away from home for the
first time and that is a struggle too. Additionally, when she is finding out about the secret society she is not afraid to be who she is and has to hit back at the racism that many of the members present to from the very beginning. I appreciate that Deonn did not have Bree hide behind Nick. To sum it up, although Bree is a normal girl who has entered into a crazy world, she is strong, fearless, smart and willing to push herself in order to find out the truth.
I like that Deonn did not shy away from the inherent racism that is part
of society as well in of wealthy and white secret societies and how those within it
either embrace it, accept it or are blind in the fact that it was
occurring (looking at you Nick). Additionally there are all the subtle and not subtle showing of racism
of what Bree faces on a daily basis.
I really liked the use of King Arthur and the retelling that Deonn has presented here but this seems to a common occurrence these days, this retelling of the story or bringing it into modern times. I do wonder where one main character that is part of Arthur's story that is not mentioned at all in this book and I hope it is addressed in the next book. I think this is the third book I have read in the past few month that has followed King Arthur's story, I’m not complaining but I think I need a break from it for awhile.
I was not a fan of the insta-love with Nick, I think you understand why it is there once the story unfolds, but at the same time I think it hindered Bree's growth at times. I will not pass judgment on it yet, but I get the feeling of a love triangle coming, and I truly hope that Deonn does not follow many other YA authors into this trope of needing this. Are their things within this story that makes me think that she would have a better match with Selwyn at times, yes, but I guess I just have to wait and see how Deonn is going to play it in the next book.
What can I say, I really enjoyed this book, cast and world that Deonn has written was fantastic. It is great that Deonn has added her voice to world of authors, and I cannot wait to read the next book in this series. I still cannot believe that this was her debut novel. Bravo Deonn, Bravo.
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